The Pert Bridge is an ordinary steel frame bridge, with I-beams crossed on the left and right sides, and the bridge built more than a decade ago is not wide, barely enough to accommodate two cars side by side.

The Anglo-Indian army built a bridgehead on the West Bank, deploying two infantry platoons, three heavy machine guns, two mortars, and a support squad of three armoured vehicles.

"They're in position B, about thirty people!"

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Sean! Take your men and prepare to fight back. ”

Searchlights swept back and forth, and the dazzling white pillars of light matched with the flares in the sky, illuminating the kilometers of the west coast.

Three Vickers M25 armored vehicles were next to each other, almost head-to-tail, slowly approaching the steel bridge.

This kind of armored car is a frequent visitor in later film and television dramas - a square hull, with a hemispherical oval machine gun tower on top and two heavy machine guns sticking out.

Its armor was only 6-8mm, and it was often used by the British to suppress colonial revolts, and the exterior of the body could be electrified to prevent it from being overthrown by mobs.

"W-w-w-"

A barrage of bullets came at the face, and although everyone hurriedly found cover, some people were still injured by the crashing ricocheting.

"I rely on his grandmother's, bazooka! Bazooka! A sergeant shouted at the top of his voice as he changed the magazine for his automatic gun.

"Horse-on-"

"Cover!"

"Shoot the flares!"

The soldiers huddled in the trenches, a few of them fired into the air at the flares that were falling slowly under their parachutes, while others also threw grenades with their backhands to attract the attention of the enemy.

The booming explosions continued one after another, and taking advantage of this opportunity, the pacesetter with the bazooka quickly poked out his upper body.

Aim, pull the trigger!

His movements were carried out in one go, and the black powder cartridge at the tail of the rocket-propelled grenade was ignited, and the high-temperature gunpowder gas produced pushed the grenade out of the launch canister in the blink of an eye.

The flat-headed conical grenade flew at a speed of about 50 m/s towards the armored vehicle dozens of meters away, and slammed straight into the side of the armored vehicle at the front.

Because of inertia, the fuse firing pin in the tail of the grenade continued to move forward and penetrated into the detonator, and the explosion of the detonator immediately detonated the warhead charge.

Under the effect of the Monroe effect, part of the energy of TNT's explosives is concentrated in front of it, and the hemispherical soft iron dosing is transformed into a jet with partial liquid characteristics due to high temperature and pressure.

"Boom!"

Like a red-hot embroidery needle poking tissue paper, the soft-iron jet easily pierced through the 6mm-thick armor plate, then through the flesh and blood of a crew member, and finally hit the fuel tank.

"Whew-"

Before the explosion stopped, bright flames erupted from the cracks in the firing port, doors, and windows of the tin canning truck!

The door opened, and several Burning Men stumbled out of it, then staggered to the ground and struggled.

Their screams were distorted by the heat and flames, like a wail from hell, and it was chilling.

The small battlefield was even silent for a few seconds, and the British and Indian soldiers could not believe what had just happened, which was beyond their imagination.

The Ming infantry can effectively counter armored vehicles?! And such a complete destruction?!

Although common anti-tank guns can also penetrate armored vehicles, they are only bullets no matter what, and the effect is average, and it often takes several rounds to penetrate before they are useful.

The enemy's astonishment was my chance, and the bazooka pacesetter reloaded as he shifted position, then aimed again.

"Boom!"

This time it was a little less effective, after all, it depends on luck to detonate ammunition or fuel.

Although only one occupant was killed by the metal jet, the frightened others hurriedly chose to abandon the car and evacuate, for fear that they would end up in a fire if they ran too late.

"What the hell is that......"

"Sir, we should retreat!"

"Retreat, retreat, get out of this place!"

The crew of the last M25 armored car had no fighting spirit and immediately drove away when they saw that the situation was not good.

How majestic it used to be when it suppressed the protests in the colonies, how embarrassed it is now.

The rocket-propelled grenade that Zhou Changfeng commissioned Yingtian Arsenal to concoct back then can be said to be very simple, essentially equivalent to the early iron fist in history, except that it has the ability to fire repeatedly and has an increased grip.

After some detailed modifications, it was shaped as a 37-type anti-rocket launcher, but the soldiers of the Ming army also habitually called it a "bazooka".

The engineers deliberately limited it because it was not intended to be overly powerful in the early stages of the war, but it was still a game-changing weapon - even light infantry could destroy tanks from tens of meters away.

From now on, the tank crews will no longer dare to be unscrupulous in the face of infantry.

When the Ming army landed on the Dongying Islands and pacified Japan, some of the experimental products were already put into use for actual combat tests.

At that time, some military observers of the Western powers noticed such weapons, but did not pay attention to them, because the Japanese had almost no armored vehicles, so the Ming army basically used bazookas to hit civil fortifications, which made Europeans think that it was just a unique grenade launcher.

"Brothers, these guys are already scared, be bold, come on!"

The platoon commander of the reconnaissance platoon who led the team gave the order loudly, and then raised his flare gun and fired a flare into the sky.

Without the armored vehicles to rely on, where could the British and Indian troops in the bridgehead on the west bank resist the fierce Ming officers and soldiers?

The essence of infantry combat lies in the ability to fight at close quarters.

Shooting, bomb throwing, explosives, earthwork, and assassination, none of the loose colonial armies of the British Empire can be compared with the 1st Marine Brigade.

In these close combat within a few tens of meters, the British and Indian troops, lacking automatic weapons, suffered a great loss and were almost unable to find the north.

The gap in weapons is only one aspect, and the gap in the quality of personnel is even greater -- there are many talented people in the army, and the reconnaissance units are already elite, so naturally there are more "immortal talents" gathered here.

The sharpshooter Sergeant Guo Shenggen, who had accompanied Zhou to Batavia to carry out the attack, was also in this reconnaissance platoon, and he was now an alternate officer with the rank of warrant officer.

Using a Type 35 semi-automatic rifle without an optical scope, he ran out of a magazine in less than half a minute, achieving an impressive result of eight out of ten rapid-fire at night.

The Anglo-Indian army, knocked down by 7.36×56mm rifle rounds, is still struggling in a pool of blood and calling for help, but where can anyone take care of it? They soon lost their breath from excessive blood loss.

"We need support! Right now! Right now! Shelling, reinforcements, send whatever you can! ”

Captain Andrew, the commander of the defenders of the bridgehead on the West Bank, shouted frantically into the telephone microphone at the top of his voice, but the dense and loud gunfire around him made it impossible to hear the reply from the microphone.

The sound of your Enfield rifle and Bren LMG became a little sparse, and the sound of the opponent's gunfire was getting closer.

The crunch of "click" is the sound of a Type 20 automatic gun firing a .351 Winchester rifle round, and the continuous strafing sound of "click" is from a Type 34 submachine gun.

The resistance of the British and Indian soldiers became more and more weak, they only dared to raise their guns and shoot indiscriminately in the general direction, whether they could hit the Ming soldiers could only depend on whether God rewarded their faces, but they were soon dizzy by the grenades, and then they were beaten into a hornet's nest by the officers and soldiers of the reconnaissance platoon who swarmed up.

Suddenly, a low roar came from afar, like rumbling thunder.

Immediately afterward, a series of shells landed on the east bank of the Terengganu River, and in the blink of an eye, the 200-meter-wide area was enveloped in brilliant and dazzling artillery fire.

What was originally a fire reconnaissance turned out to be an infiltration raid? And to stir up the bridgehead of the Anglo-Indian army in the West Bank?

This result made Zhou Changfeng particularly surprised, he felt that as long as the other party set up a minefield and then did a good job of basic vigilance, even if the reconnaissance unit finally penetrated, there was no way to expand the results of the battle.

He then ordered an early attack to see if it could be captured before the Anglo-Indian forces blasted the Pert Bridge.

So the artillery units in the assault group quickly organized fire coverage, formed a blocking area on the east bank, and blocked the route of the Anglo-Indian reinforcements to the Pat Bridge.

After that, the combat convoy directly under the 1st Marine Brigade cooperated with two teams of Marine infantry and one platoon of Marine Corps engineers to launch an attack and capture the bridgehead on the west bank.

Under the reflection of flares, more than a dozen tanks and dense infantry became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Just seeing them approaching from a distance, the remnants of dozens of British and Indian soldiers instantly collapsed, ignoring the officers' reprimands and warnings, and began to flee for their lives.

"Frightened birds, these guys are really a bunch of gutless rats." The captain of the direct combat team was a little speechless.

A little later, the sappers began to clear the minefield of sparsely laid mines.

After opening up a path for safe passage, more than 10 Type 38 medium tanks and more than 300 officers and men seized the time to quickly pass through and occupy the bridgehead on the west bank.

"Hey, hey!" The second lieutenant of the reconnaissance platoon patted the body of the command car, turned over from behind and climbed up.

He pulled open the hatch and shouted to the captain of the convoy inside, "Tell you! The British are laying out explosives and checking wires, so they have to attack immediately! ”

Hearing the news, the latter immediately beckoned to prepare to assault the east coast.

Twelve tanks lined up in a fishbone column, and then set off one after the other.

"Rush over with all your might, step on the accelerator, and don't block the road!" In the radio communicators of the various vehicles, the commander's voice was clearly audible.

Due to the limited load capacity of the steel bridge, the Type 38 medium tank, which weighed more than 18 tons in battle, could only pass through at most two at a time.

"Boom!"

“Biang——”

A 40mm armor-piercing tracer bullet hit the turret gun shield of vehicles 2-4 at the front, ricocheting on the spot, but it hit the steel frame on the side, and immediately fell apart, splashing countless brilliant sparks.

The crew was nervous, and the driver pressed the accelerator to the bottom and put it in the top gear, and the strange in-line ten-cylinder gasoline engine let out a loud roar, driving the tank to the opposite side of the bridge at a top speed of 42km/h.

The Anglo-Indian forces responsible for guarding the Pert Bridge actually had B Company and C Company, but C Company was in a second-line position and could not reach it at the moment due to the blockade by artillery fire.

The two platoons of Company B were beaten and fled in disarray on the west bank, and the company headquarters and another platoon that remained on the east bank totaled more than 40 people, plus dozens of remnants of the defeated generals, which were all the enemy troops facing the Ming army now.

Several 64mm smoke bombs landed on the positions of the British and Indian troops on the east bank, more or less hindering the observation and attack of the other side.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! ”

The British and Indian troops in the east bank position used two QF2-pounder anti-tank guns to shoot wildly at the Ming tanks in the attack, and the Indo-Indian soldiers in a desperate situation actually achieved a theoretical rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute.

Even though the 40mm armor-piercing bullet was not charged, the shattered steel fragments after the armor was penetrated flew freely inside the tank, and the tankmen covered in blood did not feel the pain because of the high tension, the driver stepped on the accelerator to death, and the rest controlled the artillery and machine guns to fire non-stop.

The Type 38 medium tank did not have a front-mounted gearbox, which made it less likely to be paralyzed by an attack, and also reduced the overall height to avoid wasting weight.

The first two tanks were destroyed, and cars No. 2-3 hit the tracks and finally stopped at the bridgehead; Cars No. 2-4 were shot through six places, but by inertia they rushed to the position of an anti-tank gun before stopping.

Twenty seconds later, the two tanks that followed also drove through this short and long distance.

They fired at the exposed enemy anti-tank guns, and the side-by-side machine guns and course machine guns rained countless bullets, crackling bean-like bullets on the shield of the QF2-pounder gun, some shattering, some crashing.

"Boom!"

A 48mm anti-explosive bomb accurately hit the Bren carrier next to the anti-tank gun position, and the scattered high-speed fragments pierced the artillery next to it into a bloody blur.

The rest of the Anglo-Indian soldiers only dared to hide in the civil fortifications at the moment, and everyone was at a loss - they did not want to surrender voluntarily and did not dare to explode in the flesh.

As the next eight tanks and two teams of infantry passed through the Pert Bridge, the bridgehead on the east bank seemed to have become a rock-solid position?

The Ming tank men drove their tanks to the top of the trenches and foxholes, then twisted left and right, crushed the ground back and forth with their tracks, and buried the enemy hiding below alive in the graves they had dug for themselves.

In the far reaches of the battlefield, in an observation post on a hill, Perimeter stood up from the artillery mirror.

"Tut-tut, it's really ruthless, this time at least ten first merits and one miracle merit will be wholesaled." The fierce fighting at night was shocking, and he was amazed by the determination and bravery of his command.

Facts have proved that the bravery of the Chinese army has been first-class since ancient times, for example, even the 93rd Division, which was beaten to the point of losing its armor and only the remnants of the defeated generals, can fight a foothold outside.

It would be nice if it was the assault vehicle battalion that had just entered the battle, that is, those heavy tanks - the frontal armor thickness of the Type 38 heavy tank could reach 50mm, and it was basically immune to incoming small-caliber armor-piercing shells.

Unfortunately, war is so unpredictable that no one can predict everything accurately.

Because launching an attack at night was a hasty and decisive action, the 1st Assault Vehicle Battalion was just under maintenance and could not participate in the battle.

"Report!" At this time, a staff officer with an anxious face rushed over, clenched his fists, and said: "The naval submarine reports that the British fleet is approaching at this high speed!" ”

(End of chapter)